Ontario Clears The Air: No Smoking Means No Vaping

Ontario’s government has proposed changes to its indoor smoking regulations which would prohibit the use of e-cigarettes and the smoking and vaping of medical marijuana in all enclosed public places.

The issue came to light recently when Ontario introduced regulations to allow medical marijuana users to be exempt from public smoking bans. At the time, that meant medical marijuana users would be allowed to light up in restaurants. It was not clear if restaurant operators would have been able to prohibit a patron from doing so under current laws and Ontario Human Right Code rulings.

Restaurants Canada, which represents 30,000 foodservice businesses in the country, welcomed the clarification. “This would have put our members in a difficult position,” explains James Rilett, the association’s v.p.-Ontario. “Employees would have had to choose between conflicting rights of patrons. These changes recognize the conversations we had with government officials.”

Ontario’s restaurant industry directly employs 458,100 in the province and serves 7.5 million customers every day.